In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kollmannsberger et al found that active surveillance for patients with clinical stage I testicular cancer is associated with very good outcomes. Most relapses occurred within 2 years of orchiectomy in patients with nonseminoma...
A study reported in The Lancet Oncology by Wallace et al evaluated the accuracy of criteria used for predicting ovarian insufficiency and offering ovarian tissue cryopreservation in young women with cancer at the Edinburgh Children’s Cancer Centre. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation with later...
Previous research has suggested that women with Hodgkin lymphoma who receive certain types of chemotherapy or radiotherapy are at increased risk of future infertility, but there was insufficient information to provide patients with detailed advice. In a study published in the Journal of the...
Approximately half of all patients with posterior uveal melanoma develop metastatic liver disease within 15 years. Although brachytherapy utilizing current isotopes may be hindered by associated toxicities, the isotope ruthenium-106 has been reintroduced into the U.S. market. In a study published...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Abt et al found that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is safe in women with breast cancer undergoing mastectomy with or without immediate breast reconstruction. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was an independent predictor of reduced 30-day postoperative morbidity in women...
An international scientific collaboration led by Baylor College of Medicine as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas initiative has revealed clues about genetic alterations that may contribute to a rare form of kidney cancer. The study, which describes the landscape of somatic genomic alterations of...
Transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy is the standard for detecting prostate cancer, but international reports have suggested that the risks associated with the procedure are increasing. In a new nationwide population-based study reported in The Journal of Urology, Swedish researchers found that 6%...
Although the majority of patients with mantle cell lymphoma respond to initial therapy, the duration of remission is typically short (1.5 to 3 years). Although bortezomib (Velcade) and lenalidomide (Revlimid) as single agents have been associated with response rates as high as 53% in patients with...
In an analysis in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ford et al found that adult woman survivors of childhood cancer have poorer psychosexual function than their siblings without childhood cancer. Risk factors for poorer function included...
The 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health started a culture change in the way Americans viewed tobacco and their health, and has saved countless million of lives. But the 1964 Report remained scientifically ambiguous on certain vital issues, such as the effect smoking had on the ...
Barrington et al in the International Conference on Malignant Lymphomas Imaging Working Group have presented updated consensus guidelines on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) for staging and response assessment for FDG-avid lymphomas. The...
Despite updates on cancer screening guidelines from several medical societies—including ASCO, the American Cancer Society, the American Urological Association, the American College of Physicians, as well as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—which use life expectancy and/or age as...
Observational studies have suggested a potential effect of bisphosphonate treatment for osteoporosis in reducing risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, an analysis of the randomized FIT trial of alendronate and HORIZON-PFT trial of zoledronic acid reported in JAMA Internal Medicine ...
In a UK population-based cohort study of associations between body mass index (BMI) and 22 specific cancers reported in The Lancet by Bhaskaran et al, positive associations were found for most cancers and were strongest for uterine, gallbladder, kidney, cervix, thyroid, liver, colon, ovarian, and...
Use of panitumumab (Vectibix) and cetuximab (Erbitux) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer decreased significantly after the publication of clinical trial evidence that anti-EGFR antibodies should be restricted to wild-type KRAS tumors, subsequent ASCO guidelines recommending testing for...
BluePrint in combination with MammaPrint molecular subtyping reclassified more than 20% of breast cancer patients into a different subgroup compared with conventional assessment, according to the results of the prospective Neoadjuvant Breast Registry Symphony Trial (NBRST). In Annals of Surgical...
The phase III NeoALTTO trial showed a significantly improved pathologic complete response rate with lapatinib (Tykerb) plus trastuzumab (Herceptin) vs either alone in women with HER2-positive early breast cancer. As reported in The Lancet Oncology by de Azambuja et al, the combination was not...
The European Thoracic Oncology Platform Lungscape ALK project is investigating the prevalence and prognostic impact of ALK-positivity in resected lung adenocarcinoma in a primarily European population. As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Blackhall and colleagues, the project has...
The Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention Trial comparing colorectal cancer screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy vs no screening showed no reduction in colorectal cancer incidence or mortality after 7 years of follow-up. As reported by Holme et al in JAMA, the 11-year follow-up shows significant...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The new indication is approved for use in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan. The FDA ...
The 13-year follow-up of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC), reported by Schröder et al in The Lancet, showed that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men aged 55 to 69 years is associated with a 21% reduction in risk of prostate cancer mortality...
In a single-center retrospective matched case-control study reported in JAMA Surgery, Franken et al found no significant differences in 30-day morbidity or mortality, positive margin status, major complications, hospital stay, or readmission rates for laparoscopic vs open partial hepatic resection...
Healthy men participating in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial who actively participate in all steps of the clinical trial are most likely to undergo a biopsy, according to a study by Gritz et al published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, ...
Obesity is associated with a worse breast cancer prognosis and elevated levels of inflammation, including greater cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and activity in adipose-infiltrating macrophages. Data from a new study finds that overweight and obese women who regularly used aspirin or other...
In a European phase III FIRE-3 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Heinemann et al found no difference in response rate, the primary endpoint, between FOLFIRI (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan) plus the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) vs FOLFIRI plus the anti-VEGF-A antibody...
The BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) is approved for treatment of BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma. There are reports indicating that vemurafenib may be active in the treatment of intracranial neoplasms with BRAF mutations. As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lee et al from...
Negative 18F–fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) after two cycles of chemotherapy (PET2) has been shown to be associated with favorable prognosis in Hodgkin lymphoma. In a prospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hutchings et...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Cologuard, the first stool-based colorectal screening test that detects the presence of red blood cells and DNA mutations that may indicate the presence of certain kinds of abnormal growths that may be cancers such as colon cancer or...
It is unclear whether somatic mutations that are strongly associated with phenotype and prognosis in myelodysplastic syndrome are also predictive of outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bejar et al found that...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved bortezomib (Velcade) for the retreatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who had previously responded to bortezomib therapy and relapsed at least 6 months following completion of prior bortezomib treatment. The labeling update includes...
Postmenopausal women who in the previous 4 years had undertaken the equivalent of at least 4 hours of walking per week had a 10% decreased risk of invasive breast cancer compared with women who were less active, according to a new study. The findings suggest that regular physical activity, even of...
A large DNA analysis of people with and without pancreatic cancer has identified several new genetic markers that signal increased risk of developing the highly lethal disease, reported scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The study by Wolpin et al was published in Nature Genetics. The...
Researchers from the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine have reported new information about the genetic alterations that may contribute to the development of a breast cancer subtype typically associated with more aggressive forms of the disease and higher recurrence...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to pacritinib for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis, including patients with disease-related thrombocytopenia on other JAK2 therapy or patients who are intolerant to or whose symptoms are suboptimally...
In a UK population-based cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cardwell et al found that statin use after diagnosis of colorectal cancer was associated with a 29% reduction in colorectal cancer–specific mortality and a 25% reduction in all-cause mortality. Improvements...
Despite the fact that smoking increases the probability of cancer recurrence and reduces survival time, many cancer survivors continue to smoke. In a new study, nearly 1 in 10 cancer survivors reported being current smokers 9 years after their diagnosis, and 83% were daily smokers averaging about...
Cancer research lost a pioneer on August 3, 2014, with the passing of Emmanuel Farber, MD, PhD, a renowned pathologist who made fundamental contributions to our understanding of chemical carcinogenesis. Dr. Farber’s studies in experimental pathology demonstrated that chemical carcinogens are...
Standardizing prescribing practices for single-fraction radiation therapy for palliation of bone metastases could lead to cost savings and improvement in patients’ quality of life, according to a study published in the August issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology •...
An analysis in the population of the National Patient Navigation Research Program reported by Ko et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates that patient navigation significantly improves the likelihood of receiving antiestrogen treatment among hormone receptor–positive breast cancer...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and granted Priority Review to the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) as a potential treatment of patients with polycythemia vera who have had an inadequate response to or are intolerant of...
Physicians at Johns Hopkins have developed blood and saliva tests that help accurately predict recurrences of HPV-linked oral cancers in a substantial number of patients. The tests screen for DNA fragments of the human papillomavirus (HPV) shed from cancer cells lingering in the mouth or other...
The activating mutation MYD88 L265P has been reported in approximately two-thirds of cases of primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, leg-type. In a French retrospective analysis reported in JAMA Dermatology, Pham-Ledard et al confirmed the high prevalence of the mutation and documented...
In a European analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Davies et al found that pathologic tumor downstaging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was the strongest independent predictor of overall survival in patients undergoing surgery for esophageal and esophagogastric junction...
Women who recently used birth control pills containing high-dose estrogen and a few other formulations had an increased risk for breast cancer, whereas women using some other formulations did not, according to data published in Cancer Research. “Our results suggest that use of contemporary...
In a phase II Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Miller et al found that the combination of pemetrexed (Alimta) and cisplatin produced responses in the treatment of advanced, persistent, or recurrent cervical cancer. In the study, 54 patients from...
In a letter to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Richter et al describe a potential tyrosine kinase inhibitor withdrawal syndrome characterized by musculoskeletal pain after stopping tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Onset After Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor...
Of the many subgroups of cells vying for control within a cancerous tumor, the most dangerous may not be those that can proliferate the fastest, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported in a study published in Nature. The findings have important implications for the treatment of cancer...
Although the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) has shown unprecedented clinical activity in mantle cell lymphoma, about 32% of patients do not respond to the drug and majority of responders eventually relapse. Genomic sequencing of tumor and healthy tissue from patients...
BCR-ABL1–like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a recently identified B-cell ALL subtype associated with poor outcome, has a gene-expression profile similar to BCR-ABL1–positive disease without the presence of the BCR-ABL1 fusion protein. In a retrospective analysis reported in the...
Nearly half of adult patients with lung-only metastases from Ewing sarcoma who received whole-lung irradiation were free of pulmonary relapse at 3 years, according to the results of a retrospective study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. With few...